Modern Marketing For Filmmakers

When it comes to marketing your movie, you need to become proficient at driving targeted traffic to your movie website. While old school filmmakers could rely on various video stores and retail outlets to sell their movies, these days the popular marketplaces are Amazon and iTunes.

Both of these markets are web based. And both are accessible through my partner distribber. But just because your movie gets into the market doesn’t mean people will find you. This means, you’ll have to drive traffic to your movie website. But before you start driving traffic, you must first figure out your filmmaker website strategy.

I suggest creating something my internet marketing friend, Fred Gleeck calls a conversion funnel. Basically it looks like this:

This simple movie marketing model demonstrates that  not everybody who visits your  movie website will buy your movie. But by working to get more and more targeted prospects into the top of your funnel, you will increase your chances of making more sales at the bottom. Additionally, in the event a prospect tries to leave your movie website prematurely (abandon the funnel), you will ask these folks to “opt-in” to your audience list.

Once these prospects opt-in, they will get to know you and know more your movie. Utilizing this “lead capture” strategy, your odds of converting a prospect into customer increases.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Image via Wikipedia

The other night, I spoke at the UCLA film school about how to make, market and sell your movie without the middle-man. And while most of the UCLA film students in attendance agreed that my way of making a movie may not be fully inline with the studio ideal – many of these filmmakers agreed that getting a movie made is better than merely just talking about making a movie.

Thanks to familiarity with YouTube as well as access to affordable production equipment, many film school students, as well as modern filmmakers are embracing accessible, non-discriminatory distribution channels without hesitation or excuses.  And this experience is changing the ways in which filmmakers think about making a movie.

While it’s still true that making a movie can be a pain in the butt, the barriers of industry entry are down.  As a result, filmmakers are now empowered to go out and make their movie. And just in case you are not attending film school, I’ll share the BIG question you need to ask yourself as a filmmaker:

“Given the resources that you have now, what is the movie that you can make this year?”

Posted under FILMMAKING

Bloody nose Image via Wikipedia

As a filmmaker, sometimes life sucks. Sometimes deals fall apart. Sometimes what you thought was a sure-thing becomes a no-thing.

When I was in NYC, we were going into production on a 1.5 million dollar movie. Then all-a-sudden the entire project fell apart. Something about the investors getting cold feet… Something about the actor’s mom… Dunno. Truth is, the reason the project fell apart does not matter.

But what I do know is this – I suddenly found myself in New York with no job and no money. That SUCKED. Truly. I remember calling my friend and mentor Joe Surges on the phone. I thought he would be encouraging. Instead he said something I never forgot… He said, “Get UP!”

ME: What?

JOE: Get UP! You just experienced your first knock-out in life. You have two choices, you can quit – or you can get up, wipe your bloody nose and push forward.

I chose to push forward. I had no other choice. Eventually found work at the Maine Media Workshops – which eventually led to my move to California, where I was able to produce a few features thus far.

Since that time, I have been rejected, fired, heart broken and dumped. I have had a gazillion business projects and movie projects fall apart. But this is the price of success folks. There will be good times and bad times. There will be red and black.

And I gotta tell ya – each time life tries to throw a sucky punch (intentionally spelled that way), I take the punch. Block it if I can – but when I get hit, I get up. I don’t stop. Neither should you.

See you at the TOP!

Posted under FILMMAKING

Before you jump into BIG filmmaking projects, I recommend working with creative collaborators on weekend films and other, smaller projects. This helps you uncover everybody’s idiosyncrasies early on.

From this experience, you can better determine if anybody’s social imperfections (coupled with your own imperfections) will derail the possibility of collaborating on bigger projects.

A long time ago, I worked on a short movie with a guy. Long story short, I found out the guy was being untruthful about money. He had hired one of my friends to build our movie website. But he failed to pay as agreed. When confronted, he shared an outlandish story about Western Union sending the money to the incorrect address. This was completely stupid and untruthful.

Because he was a “friend,” I gave him the benefit of belief and dropped the subject.

Three years later, I found myself working with this guy again. And guess what? He figured out a way to steal a few thousand dollars from the movie budget. When confronted, he left Los Angeles for Kentucky or some other place. He emailed a few times, appologizing.

Thanks.

The point is – sometimes you uncover facts early on that could save headaches later. You need to have a forward thinking perspective. In small deals, when you have moments of friction, in the context of heated conversations, your colloborators will often say “This is not a big deal.”

But the truth is, small frustrations on small projects will be amplified on BIG projects to become BIG problems.

Be mindful.

- – -

Like this filmmaking stuff? Then sign up for the newsletter.

Posted under FILM FINANCING

Video on demand has forever changed the ways independent movies are made, seen and sold. And if you’ve not yet made a feature, you might wonder why this is important to you.

I get excited about Video On Demand and the various popular internet marketplaces like iTunes and Amazon because movie distribution is no longer discriminatory. This means that you can actually control your own business and marketing plan.

The downside to this is, as a modern moviemaker, if you want to prosper, you need to develop some marketing and sales skills – or at least know enough about this stuff to hire the appropriate team member.

When you click the picture below, you will have the opportunity to grab some great filmmaking tools, FREE of charge. You’ll get valuable tips on how you can make, market and sell your independent movies more easily.

If you like all the free stuff, make sure you tell your filmmaking friends!

Posted under FILMMAKING

For Los Angeles based fimmakers looking to take their show to business, I recommend checking out the next  Norman Berns workshop.  In this full-day, hands-on instruction, you will gain experience on the following:

MATCHING SCRIPT and BUDGET – SCHEDULING – BUDGETING

BUSINESS PLANS – PITCHING – FUNDRAISING

DEVELOPING THE DECK

MARKETING – DISTRIBUTION – SALES

Your day will begin with an overview of the basics. Then you’ll spend A FULL DAY working with YOUR script, YOUR schedule, YOUR plan, YOUR pitch. You’ll gain valuable insight needed to dissect the logic of a shooting schedule, review production budget cost savings and craft business plans to meet investors needs. And you’ll also discover how to allocate state film incentives correctly.

Oh. And as a highlight, I’m going to stop by and share some tips on how to market and sell your movie without the middleman. I’m told this one day event is filling up fast. So reserve your spot.

When: Monday, May 9th

Where: Showbiz Software Store

500 S. Sepulveda, Los Angeles

9am – 6pm

Posted under FILMMAKING

If you’re like most filmmakers, you have a website for your movie. And odds are good you are trying to fit too much into it. So the first thing you need to do is remove all the distracting crap. Whenever I mention this at a talk, invariably someone asks me how to determine what’s distracting? It depends on your website objective.

When building a movie website, most filmmakers have two objectives:

1. Stage 1 – Raise awareness for your movie.
2. Stage 2 – Sell your movie directly.

If you’re still in Stage 1, chances are good you have press kits, actor bios, reviews of your movie, anecdotes from production and about a gazillion other items, including behind the scenes photo galleries. But once you finish the festival circuit, you may choose to enter Stage 2 and start funneling web traffic towards your DVDs and VOD in various marketplaces.

To do this, I suggest you install Google analytics and monitor your traffic. Here is an example from the first feature I worked on:

If you look closely, you’ll notice that many visitors ended up visiting pages that did not lead to a sale. This is like keeping money on the table. So to counter the confusion, I suggest simply removing the pages altogether.

When promoting your movie, the goal is to remove all the extra crap and keep what matters.

The end result is a very simple website that “funnels” people to your desired destination.

When visitors click on “Buy NOW” they are redirected to the point of sale.

Marketing a movie is initially a creative art – but unlike other arts,  the beauty of movie marketing is, with the right tracking tools, you can test and retest your ideas to determine effectiveness.

If you like this filmmaking stuff, sign up for our newsletter.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

YouTube joined forces with a new app that allows you to create animated videos. This is a video I put together in like 5 minutes to tell the world about the free filmmaking tools available over at Free Filmmaking Book.

At present, I’m working on some new filmmaking products. So make sure you get on the filmmaking stuff maling list.

Posted under FILMMAKING

Filmmakers often utilize film festivals as a way to get their work seen and hopefully sold. And while acceptance to top-tier festivals is super exciting – the reality is, many filmmakers do not get in.

As a result, many of these semi-dejected filmmakers take a shotgun approach to their festival strategy. They start applying for most every regional and local film festival, everywhere. And aside from outlandish application fees, upon arrival to these festivals – instead of  meeting a bunch of VIP acquisitions executives, most second tier festivals are populated by a bunch of other desperate filmmakers shoving postcards in your face, eagerly advertising their screening times to, well, other filmmakers.

Sometimes this includes free beer. (Most times not.)

While having delusions of distribution grandeur is still part of the film festival fun – with the demise of DVD distribution, and the odds that you won’t get into Sundance – it is vitally important that you create a film festival strategy PLAN B.

What is a film festival strategy PLAN B?

Simply put, if you are serious about making your movie profitable, YOU are now responsible for marketing, promotion and distribution of your movie. And inline with this strategy, you must view regional and second tier festivals as an opportunity to build your audience list. But instead of handing out postcards to other filmmakers, your marketing strategy will be smarter.

Here are five tips on making film festivals relevant to your movie business:

1. Write a press release specific to the festival and then distribute to the local press. This also involves picking up the phone and personally inviting the press to attend your screening. Many festivals will have a press list. You can use this – but I would also advise conducting additional internet searches for other press outlets.
2. Many local towns have a filmmaker community. Reach out to them. If you are traveling, it’s great to have someone to pal around with. The secondary benefit to this is, many of these same people will have relationships with the festival staff – always good to know people on the staff.
3. If the festival allows it, see if you can take several clipboards into your screening. You’ll want to collect the names and email addresses of each viewer and get their permission to email them. Later you will enter this data into your audience list.
4. If your film website does not include a blog component, add one. Then update frequently. Add pictures and video. Let the world know your movie is screening. People like this stuff.
5. And finally, most regional festivals have panel discussions with industry experts. Make sure you attend these. Take your business cards. And then try to build relationships with whomever is on the panel. (And as a side note, if you know anybody looking for a panelist – I suggest inviting Jason Brubaker from Filmmaking Stuff? Just sayin’)

Out of everthing I mentioned, the most important strategy for your movie and your modern moviemaking career is grow your own fan base. This way, when you focus on building your audience list, you stress a lot less about the traditional distribution deal you may or may not have received at one of the notorious festivals.

So yes. Film festivals are still relevant. They offer a great way to source an audience for a minimal marketing investment.

Also, I’d like to thank one of our filmmaking stuff readers named Michael for this question. If you would like to get on the filmmaking stuff VIP list, click here >>

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Because of an eroding DVD market, the modern moviemaking model dictates that you (as a filmmaker) must treat your independent movie business just like any other small business.

YOU have a product (your movie) and YOU must sell your product. In order to sell your product, you must find a customer and convince them that your movie is worth more than their money. Obvious right?

But most filmmakers have no idea how to find a customer.  It’s not your fault. I blame the STUPID notion that filmmakers should concentrate solely on making movies without considering how to source their target audience.  Think about it. Filmmakers traditionally depended on some sort of middle-man distributor to come in deus ex machina style to provide a big fat cash advance. But that was then…

Now, as a result of DSLR technology, you have a whole world of filmmakers flooding the market with awesomely good-looking backyard indies.  It’s an example of supply and demand. There are too many movies! And there are too few traditional deals. And sadly, most filmmakers have no idea how to get their movies seen and selling. As a result, the entire world of indie filmmaking is belly-up.

The only way modern moviemakers can compete and succeed is to learn from traditional small businesses. Filmmakers must focus on finding creative ways to produce movies inexpensively and spend tremendous effort (and little money) sourcing an audience. Which, when you compare the filmmaker’s need for customer acquisition to other businesses, it’s really the same thing.

Welcome to the new movie business!

So who wins? Filmmakers who can source an audience for their movies are in better shape than those who can not. Period.

How do your source an audience: In two words – Internet marketing.

I got news for you. Selling a movie online is no different than selling an eBook! But not everybody knows how to sell things online. That is OK. I explain this in my book. And for those of you not ready to get my book (so you can discover my mad movie marketing methods) – here is a tip as well as an actionable item: Crowdfunding.

By now you’ve heard of crowdfunding. But the little secret that nobody is talking about is this – Not all movie projects will get fully funded by the crowd. BUT, by creating a campaign, you essentially get the word out about your movie. You increase your YouTube hits (because you presumably embed your trailer into your campaign)… And even if your campaign is not successfully funded, anybody who did donate is now part of your future audience. Hmmm.

I know I’m on a bit of a rant today. So I’m going to slow-my-roll. If you like this filmmaking stuff, make sure you click here   >>

And if you want to see me speak or attend any of my workshops, telephone your local film festival and leave this message on their answering machines –> I WANT TO SEE Jason Brubaker LIVE.

Feel free to comment below.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION